ACB arrests Alwar municipal councillor, 2 others for taking Rs 5.15 lakh bribe

Jaipur: Rajasthan anti-corruption bureau (ACB) on Thursday arrested a Congress councillor of Alwar municipal council and two others after they were allegedly caught with a bribe amount of Rs 5.15 lakh.

The councillor, Narendra Meena, is said to be very close to a cabinet minister in the Congress government. The councillor was demanding the bribe to help contractors with approval for government works worth Rs 15 crore in Alwar district, according to ACB officials.

The two others who were arrested by ACB were identified as Sanjeev Bhargav and Dinesh Gupta. Both are contractors who had allegedly collected bribe money from other contractors to issue work orders. ACB officials said that a commission of 5 percent was fixed for a contractor to get a work order in his favour. Rs 5.15 lakh was the first instalment of this commission. It totalled Rs 75 lakh for the payment of Rs 15 crore.

The trio was arrested in a joint operation by ACB teams of the Jaipur and Alwar branch. Searches were being carried out at Narendra Meena’s flat in Mootidungari area.

A senior ACB official said that an investigation has been launched to ascertain the identity of all the contractors who were paying bribes to the accused men. The trio was booked under various sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act.